There were videos of female students fighting at St. Joseph High School this week. It seems like spirits of hysteria and chaos were at work at what is considered one of Guyana’s top schools. There were two and three fights happening simultaneously and the adult staff seen on the videos seemed to have little control. Some students who were not involved in the fights were filming on their mobile phones, while some were inciting, and a few were trying to intervene.
Whenever there are such incidents, there are always comparisons with the past. And the conclusion usually is that the children of the past were not as undisciplined as the children now. But fighting has always been a part of the school culture. One major difference between then and now is that we are more exposed because of mobile phones and the internet. No longer are the majority mischievous in the dark or hiding behind veils – the sins of the generations are now televised. Children now are attending school with mobile phones. In this attention-seeking age of social media whether behaviours are negative or positive there are opportunities for likes, comments and to grow one’s following.
